Vapor and liquid contacting apparatus



Aug. 3, 1943.

A. w. WEHKAMP p -r'ALA 2,325,819

VAPOR AND LIQUID CONTACTING VAPPARATUS n Filed April 30, 1941 l PatentedAug. 3, 1943 varon AND L19 tion of Indiana UID CONTACTING APPARATUSAlfred W. Weitkamp, Whiting, 1nd., and Lawrence C. Brunstrum, Chicago,Ill., assignors to Standard Oil Company, Chicago, Ill., a corpora-Application April so, 1941, seria; No. 991,147

' 9 claims. (01.261-94) Our invention relates to vapor or gas and liquidcontacting devices and more particularly is directed to apparatus suchas fractionating colwardly within the column. 'Ihe capillary mate-l rialis so arranged in the column that the liquid will have a continuous pathdownward, and-the vapor a continuous path upward, each phase withouthindrance by the other. Furtherr we contemplate positioning within anelongated contacting zone a forfaminous packing which provides thelongestL possible path'of contact between the. two phases. Woven wire isa satisfactory material if the mesh is of such size as to be sealed bythe liquid. The size of the wire and the size of the mesh, therefore,are governed by the characteristics and amount of liquid present withinthe zone,l l

More specically our invention is an improvement over the contactingapparatus described in Stedman Patent 2,227,164. -It relates to animproved method of fabrication and assembly and improved design for wiregauze packing for 'laboratory columns. Our improved design provides avertical liquid baille between and within successive cells whereby allthe vapors are directed in a circular path within the annular spacebetween successive cells and travel in a substantially spiral path frombottom to top of the column. The baiile can be ofl capillary ornoncapillary material. By suitable modification and arrangement ofalternate bales, the direction of the vapors between successive cellscan be reversed. -Likewise, the successivebailies can be integral witheach other but separate from the cones.

It is an object of our invention to provide a packing which retains aminimum amount of n liquid. Uniformdistribution ofboth liquid and tion..Anotherl object is to provide a--packingcomprising a plurality ofsuperposed capillary `tween aridyvithii'iv the cells.

cells which are free to adjust themselves to the interior surface of thecolumn. It is another object of our invention to` providey means forcontrolling the flow of vapors betweenfand within the cells. Stillanother object is to provide a packing which can be fabricated equallywell in short or long sections. An additional object is, to provide acolumn of increased efciency. These and other objects will becomeapparent as the description of .our invention proceeds.

Our'v invention will be understood from the following" description andthe accompanying drawing which forms a part thereof.

Figure 1 showsthe blank from which the cones can be formed;

Figures 2 and 3 are views of the cones and .baille formed from the wireblank of Figure 1;

ing the positions of the elements; and- Figure 6 is a series of planviews of the elements of Figure 5 showing the relative positions of thecell openings.

Our invention .is directed to the control of. the ow of the ascendingvapors in the space be- In ther prior art packing the vaporsuponentering this space subdivide and ow across the column to the nextopening spaced only 180' degrees from the lower opening or inlet to thespace. By our invention the ascending vapors are caused to flow in asingle stream all the way around the annular space between cells andwithin each cell.

Referring to the` drawing, reference numeral 'I0 designates the wall ofthe column and vapors or gases enter a lower portion of the column by:means not shown. 'The column I0 encloses va plurality of superposedelements or cones designed and constructed according to our inveny tionas shown in Figures 2 and 3. One element comprises a conical disc IIhaving an attached 'external baille I2 adjacent the vapor' opening I3and extending upwardly. The vapor opening I3 and external baille I2 areproducedby cutting a Yradial slit in the circular blank I5 of Figure 1and turning a wing or segment I2 of the disc toward the apex, theperipheral dimension of the segment being substantially equal to atleast twice the altitude of the.cone -I I. In a subsequent operationthedisc is formed into acone Il of smaller diameter, resulting insubstantial closure of the said vapor opening, which canbe operation.

trimming can be combined with the iinal forming Obviously, the die forforming the cones must be slotted to accommodate flap or wing I2. Thiscone II is illustrated by Figures 2, 5a, 5c, and 5e. Another'elementcomprises a cone I6 having a segment I1 turned downwardly toward thebase of the cone. With suitable modiiication of the die described above,this element can be manufactured in a 'manner similar to that used inmaking cone II. This cone I6 is illustrated in Figures 3, 5b, 5d, and5f.

In fabricating the column, cones II and I6 are placed apex-to-apex withthe radial edge of the external baflle I2 integral with cone II incontact with the cut edge of vapor opening I4 of cone I6. A similar coneII is disposed base-tobase with the cone I 6 and an edge of internalbaiile I1 engages thecut edge of vapor opening I3. Thus a radial baffleis formed in the space I8 between the cones and within the cell I9formed by cones II and I6 disposed base-to-base. The vapor issuing intothe space I8 between cones II and I6 from vapor opening I3 of the cellbelow is forced to pass completely around the space I8 between the cellsbefore entering the upper cell through the vapor opening I4. The vaporsentering cell I9 by way of opening I4 pass around internal baille I1within the cell in a substantially spiral path before leaving the cellby-vapor opening I3. In the embodiment illustrated by the drawing, eachcone has a height equal to about one-half the radius of the column andthe vertical edge of each baille is a length equal to twice the heightof the cone. The leading edges of each successive baille opening areapproximately 40 degrees'apart, and hence the vapors travel about 320degrees within each cell and between each cell. If desired, the baillesI2 and/or I1 can be disposed transverse to the longitudinal axis of thecolumn to effect a more-compact spiral vapor path. Thus, all theopenings I3 and I4 can be disposed one above the other and transverse ofthe bailie to give 360 degrees vapor travel within and between thecells. Like- Wise, the internal balles I1 can be vertical and theexternal baiiles I2 inclined.

Each wall-contacting edge; fits the column at least as closely as themesh of the gauze. If it were otherwise the liquid would race down thewalls of the column and eiiiciency would be lost. Small differences inthe diameter of the column are overcome by making the element slightlyoversize. The spring of the disc holds it in place, compensates for anyvariation in the column, and assures a very'tight fit.

The cones are inserted into the column with a. ramrod. No fastening ofthe individual cones is necessary and thus we eliminate necessity forwelding base-to-base to' form an integral unit. Likewise, 'propergrinding to insure correct dimensions of the welded packing is avoided.The spring of the metal holds the cones perma- IU. The vapor enters at apoint near the bottom of the column, flows upwardly following asubstantially spiral path from bottom to top. The vapor flows from theoutlet I3 of the lower cone II into the annular space I8 between thecones and thence to the inlet opening I4 of the upper cone I6. The vaporopenings I3 and I4 of any two cones I I and I6 respectively, placedapex-to-apex, are disposed transverse of the baiile along an elongatedspiral or a substantially vertical line. The flow in the annular spaceI8 between these cones is directed in a substantially circular path bythe external bailies I2 therebetween. Similarly the internal bafflescause vthe vapors to follow a circular path within the cells I9. Theinlet and outlet openings I4 and I3, respectively, of any given J`cellformed by the cones II and I6, base-to-base, likewise are disposed alongthe elongated spiral about the axis of the column'lil or in asubstantially Vertical line. In the embodiment shown, each successivebaille is about 40 degrees from the baiiles in the adjacent cones. d

Our design and fabrication results in improved contact between ascendingvapor and descending liquid with a very, substantial increase inefficiency over other packings of this class. These advantages inefciency are obtained although the lnew packing is less expensive and nomore difficult to fabricate thanr the ordinary conical pattern packingof the prior art.

In the embodiment shown all the cones are of a pattern to give a spiralflow. If the baffle I2 is formed by folding a segment so as to form anopening clockwise of the baille and the upper edge of the externalbaille I2 placed in contact with the folded edge -of the vapor openingI4 instead of the cut edge, the path of the vapor becomes circularbetween cells as before but the path reverses on itself in eachsuccessive baiiled zone I8 and cell I9. Thus the vapor having enl teredthe baiiied zone I8 from vapor opening I3 travels in a circular path asit did below in cell I9 but in the reverse direction. This results ingreater eciency by further avoiding channelling of the vapor whileincreasing the degree and amount of contact with the liquid. Othermodications and arrangements will be apparent from the description.

Each element in the illustrated embodiment comprises a conical disc.However, a pyramidal disc can be used with the necessary modification ofthe column. Therefore, coneas used in the specification and claims isintended to include pyramids and cones.

Although we have described our invention with reference to certainembodiments thereof, it is contemplated that various changes can be madein details within the scope of our claims withnently in place and a verytight t is insured.

This cannot be true of a rigid packing prepared by welding and grinding.

In operation, reflux or liquid introduced into the top of the column I0ows over the capillary material and seals the openings. A cone I'I andwardly n the lower cones I I and vertically downp ward in internalbaille I1. This Aflow continues until the liquid reaches the bottom ofthe column prising a column and a plurality of vbaiiled cellstherewithin between pairs of cones of capillary material arrangedalternately base to base and apex to apex, the capillary openings ofwhich are scalable with the liquid being fractionated, baiiies ofliquid-conducting capillary material extending transversely across theannular chan;v

nels between adjacent cells, bales of liquid conyducting capillarymaterial extending transversely across the circular channels within saidcells, said bailles both between said cells and 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1l wherein said within said cells being in capillary liquidconcapillary material is woven wire.

ducting` contact with at least one of the ad- .3. The apparatus of claim1 wherein the said jacent cones and vapor openings in said cones vapor`openings are in the form of segments of adjacent said baffles wherebyascending vapors 5 said cones. e J A, t i

being fractionated'are forced to follow a tortuous ALFRED/W. WEITKAMP.

path upward thru the apparatus in a substan- LAWRENCE C. BRUNSTRUM.tially undividedu stream.

